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L. KIRKUP.

Bathing Attachment for Piers.

N.PETERS. PMOTO-LIYHOGRAPHE|L WASHINGTON] C.

J: Patented Mar. 30, 1880.

llwrrnn STATES LANCELOT KIRKUP, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOB TO HIMSELF AND ABRAHAM GALLAND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BATHING ATTACHMENT FOR PIERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,989, dated March 30, 1880.

Application filed January 17, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LANCELOT KIRKUP, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Bathing Attachment for Piers, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an attachment for ocean and other piers arranged to be used for bathing purposes.

or cage having the sides and bottom arranged for the free passage in and out of the water, and held in vertical guides at the side or end of the pier, so that it will move freely up and down and at the same time be held steadily. Said car or cage is also provided with suitable elevating and lowering apparatus and with a counter-balance, and with other devices and attachments, which will be fully referred to and described farther on in the specification.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of my improved bathing at tachment for piers. Fig. 2 represents a sectional side elevation of the same, taken on line c c of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 represents a crosssection of the same, taken on line It 7c of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, A represents an ocean or other pier. Parallel to the piles or pillars a (t of the pier, and at the proper distance 0 from the same, are fixed other guide-posts, I) b. The tops of the posts I) are connected with cross-beams (1, extending from the pier A. The pillars a and posts 1) form the guides for the bathingcar, one pillar being provided for each 3 5 corner of the car, and said pillars are provided with feathers or flanges c on the inside, which are intended to fit into correspondin g grooves fin the corners of the car.

B represents the bathing-car. It is a rect- 0 angular frame-work made of strongly-jointed timbers, and is placed between the pillars b and a, where it is held by the flanges or feathers c on the said pillars entering grooves f in the four corners of the car.

The flanges or feathers a form, with the grooves f, sliding joints between the pillars aband the car, which hold the car steadily in place, but at the same time allow it perfect freedom of movement up and down.

The bottom 9 of the car is made of slats or The attachment consists of an elevator car boards attached to the bottom timbers of the car, so as to leave spaces between, through which the water can enter freely into the car when it is lowered into the water, and through which the water can readily escape when the 5 car is raised out.

The sides It and ends it of the car are made of wire-gauze or other open material which will give an easy inlet and outlet for the water, so that when. the car is lowered into the ocean or into running water, as the case may be, the surging of the water in the one case and the current in the other will cause the water to pass through the car, andthereby maintain a constant change of the water in the car, and thus insure within the car a constant change of the water, so that the bathers will have water for their use as fresh and clean as if they bathed in theopen river or ocean.

In the side of the ear next to the pier A is a door, t', hinged and provided with a suitable latch. so that it .can be readily opened and as readily closed and fastened for the entrance of the bathers from the pier A and their exit- 7 5 from the car when they are through with their bathing and the car is raised from the water. To the bottom of the car B, underneath, is attached a frame-work, O, in the form of the letter V, extending the whole length of the car, and so arranged that the acute angle of the frame-work will coincide with the longitudinal middle line of the car. The object of the frame-work G is to furnish a breakwater or divider, which, when the car is lowered into the water, will divide the water or throw it sidewise, and thereby ease the entrance of the car into the water, so that but a small amount of resistance will be offered by the descent of the car compared to that which would be offered if the flat bottom of the car came in contact with the water during its descent.

Midway of the length of the car, in front thereof and between the outer pillars, b b, are uprights D D, in the grooved inside edges 5 whereof is held a weight, E, in such a way that the said weight is permitted to slide freely up and down between the uprights D D, which serve as guides for the said weight. Ropes j j are attached to this weight E, and are carried thence over grooved pulleys k, pivoted in a frame, F, on the cross timbers or beams (Z, and from pulleys k the ropes are carried down and attached to the top of the car B at k. The weight E serves as a counter-balance for the car B.

Other ropes, Z, are likewise attached to the car at k, and are carried up over pulleys m, likewise pivoted in another part of the frame F, and from said pulleys said ropes are carried down under a grooved pulley, a, pivoted between two uprights, 0 0, rising from the floor p of the pier, and from pulley a the rope is carried to a guide, G, from whence it is carried to a drum or other suitable mechanism for winding the rope, which is adapted to be op erated by a steam-engine or other suitable power. (Not shown.)

H represents a friction-pawl pivoted to one of the cross-timbers of the top of the car on one side, h, and having its outer end provided with a suitable catch or lip, which bears against the upright I, placed underthe side of thepier next to the car 13, between pillars a a. The inner end of the pawl H is intended to be connected with one of the elevating-ropes Z, in the usual manner of safety friction-pawls for elevators. On the opposite side of the car it is intended to have another friction-pawl, bean ing against one ofthe uprights D, in the same manner as pawl H, and which is connected with the second one of the ropes Z. The purpose of the pawl H is to stop the car, in case the elevating-ropes Z should break, by their friction against the uprights D I, in the manner of frietion-pawls generally when applied to elevators.

W'hen constructed as above described the car B is adapted to be elevated and stopped at the floor of the pier A to take in bathers, who are admitted to the carthrough the gate i, and when it is lowered it is permitted to sink to any desired depth in the water suitable to the bathers. By this arrangement persons unable to swim, the sick, and the infirm can be given all the advantages of deep-water bathing without any of the risks usually attending bathing in the surf. At the same time it is adapted to secure perfect privacy for the bathers who desire it, as they can employ the car for their own use if they desire.

Many of these cars can be attached to the same pier, and'they can be made of any suitable size to adapt them for general use; or they can be made of a size to adapt them to the use of one or more individuals.

I claim- 1. The breakwater 0, applied to the elevator-car B, which is inovably attached to a pier, A, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. A pier, A, arranged on piles that support its platform, in combination with a hoisting and lowering apparatus, pulleys k and m, and with an open sided elevatorear, B, having breakwater O,'and door i, for the en trance and exit of the bathers, which car is suspended vertically below said pulleys, so that its bottom can be elevated to a level with the platform of the pier, substantially as herein shown and described.

The above specification of my ilwention signed by me this 22d day of November, 1879.

LANOELOT KIRK UP.

YVitnesses:

ToMPsoN B. MosHER, WILTON G. DONN. 

